


Welcome to Shulman's

by allmylovesatonce



Category: The Mindy Project
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-03
Updated: 2015-02-03
Packaged: 2018-03-10 08:59:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 18,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3284498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allmylovesatonce/pseuds/allmylovesatonce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU where Danny owns a bar and Mindy is a new and frequent customer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fic! I hope you enjoy!  
> Reviews are always appreciated! :)

As Mindy left work that day, she really only needed one thing: a drink. It had been one of the craziest days in a long time and then on top of it all, she had to check Facebook and see how everyone was moving on with their lives without her. She really didn’t care. She would just have to keep telling herself that for a while. Her friends kept telling her she was better off and she knew they were right. She had been right to call off their engagement, she had just wished she could have been the one in the new relationship first. It was petty, but she’s never said she couldn’t be a bit petty. She really didn’t care at all that he was moving in with some gorgeous ass model, she just didn’t need to hear about it tonight. She didn’t feel like going to her regular bar. A lot of his friends hung out there and they were the last people she wanted to see tonight. She left the hospital in search of a new bar where she could drown her sorrows. You couldn’t even call it drowning her sorrows because she would have to be sorrowful. She just needed a place to drink heavily and pretend life was perfect. You know what? She’s a hot Indian doctor with an ass that doesn’t quit for crying out loud. Life could be worse.

Mindy rounded the corner and saw a bar called Shulman’s. Looking in the windows, she took in the calm atmosphere. Deciding that maybe a low key night of drinking alone didn’t sound like the worst idea, she stepped inside. She looked around the bar. It wasn’t very big. There were a few people sitting in groups throughout the room looking content. She could hear some music being softly played throughout the place. She seemed to pick up some Springsteen. “Well the music could be better,” she thought to herself. But overall it seemed like a fine place to drink and have no one bother her.

Sitting down at the bar, she looked around to see if there was a bartender around. Just then a handsome, dark haired man stepped behind the bar. “What can I get you?” he asked nicely. She was so distracted by the attractive man in front of her that she didn’t actually realize he had spoken. He looked at her expectantly and she snapped out of her daze.

“Sorry. What did you say?”

“I asked you if there was anything I could get you. Like something to drink. It is a bar so usually people don’t come here to just sit.”

“Yeah. Right. Of course not. Umm, I will have whatever red wine you have. With ice, please.  And keep it coming,” she said, trying to decide if he seemed snarky or if he was just plainly stating a fact.

“Sure.”

“Thanks.”

He brought her a glass of red wine and she immediately started drinking it. Frankly she didn’t care if it was the good stuff or not. Even the crappiest wine could still get her drunk. She looked up to see a rather shocked face on the bartender.

“Sorry. I am just uh, thirsty,” she said lamely.

“Well if you were thirsty I could have given you some water first. Or something without alcohol. Not that I should be complaining. The more you drink, the more I get paid.”

“Are you the type of bartender that people come and spill their secrets to or are you just a “serve em and move on” kind of bartender?” She asked after a pause.

“Hmmm. I don’t really know. Most of the people who come in here are regulars so I know them pretty well by this point. I guess maybe a combination. Usually I don’t really talk with just anyone but if you’re needing to spill your secrets that just might make my night more interesting,” he replied, smirking at the end.

Damn this guy was attractive, or was it just the wine she had been steadily drinking since he put the glass in front of her. She couldn’t have had that much to drink yet.

“Let me ask you something…, wait what is your name?”

“Danny.”

“Great. Danny, let me ask you something. Why do guys seem like they are all in and that there is no one better in the world for them than you and then the minute you break up they go start dating woman after woman as if to rub it in your face?”

Danny seemed a bit stunned by the question. He just stared at her blankly. Maybe he figured she had less personal questions in mind.

“Uh, I don’t know. Remind me of your name?”

“Oh yeah. It’s Mindy. Mindy Lahiri.”

“Okay. So Mindy, I get the idea that some guy broke your heart?”

“No it was actually me. I dumped him because I didn’t think we were right together. And we weren’t. I was right to do it. But now he’s moving on and moving in with some woman he can’t have known very long and I can’t explain to myself why I’m mad about it. I don’t care about him. I don’t want to still be with him. I just… I just –“

“You just wanted to move on first?”

“Does that sound terrible if I say that?”

“No. If anything it sounds familiar.”

Mindy contemplated what he said. She really wasn’t a terrible person. She was just feeling lonely if anything. She looked down at her wine glass and was horrified to see how quickly she had consumed almost the entire thing. She began to nervously laugh, “Wow. I really downed that didn’t I? I came here with the intention to get drunk but not this fast. Wow.”

“No judgment, but are you drunk off one glass of wine? Actually less than one glass of wine,” Danny asked.

“Noooooo,” she really dragged out the word. “I am not drunk. I am just a lot closer than I expected given that I haven’t been here like fifteen minutes.”

“Well whenever you are ready to leave, I’ll make sure to call you a cab,” Danny offered kindly.

Mindy looked up at him. She didn’t know this man and here she was rambling like a crazy woman. He probably thought she was just some drunk idiot. That would not have been the first impression she would have wanted to leave with this incredibly hot man. Mindy picked up her wine glass and drained it. She set it back down gingerly and debated the advantages of ordering another glass. She had already made a fool of herself. Maybe it was best she just go home. Thank God this wasn’t her normal hangout.

“You know what Danny, thank you for the advice. I don’t need a cab. I’ll just walk home. It isn’t too far from here. I apologize for keeping you away from other paying customers. Thank you for letting me ramble on about my lame life. Sometimes I just need a sounding board.”

“Don’t mention it. They do say bartenders make the best therapists, right?”

“If they don’t, they certainly should.”

He laughed in reply. And wow if his deep laugh didn’t do something to her. She should really be going. “Okay, well thanks again,” she said awkwardly. As she stood up, she lost her footing and felt like she was about to fall. Before she could process anything, she felt two strong hands grab her wrists, managing to keep her upright. She looked up to find Danny holding her wrists incredibly close to her hands from across the bar and looking at her with a strange look in his eye.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Uh. Um yeah. Thanks,” she added, a bit too shaken to really form sentences.  She could feel the heat from his hands on her wrists and it was messing with her.

She looked up at him and he realized he was still holding her wrists. He quickly let go, muttering something.

As she left the bar she turned around one more time to look at him. Danny was leaning up against the bar, watching her leave. She lamely waved at him, to which he replied, “Nice to meet you, Mindy Lahiri.” She just smiled back and walked out of the door into the night.

 ~~~~~~~~~

“Dude, who was that?”

Danny didn’t hear Peter come up behind him and was startled to hear his voice in his ear.

“Umm I don’t really know. I had never seen her in here before,” he responded, hoping it wasn’t too obvious that his mind was clearly still with her.

“She looked pretty drunk. That was a pretty smooth move, though, Casanova. Look who’s trying to move on and get over Christina!”

“What? That was the first time I met the woman. I didn’t want her to hit her head on the floor. You know injury paperwork is a bitch,” Danny said defensively.

“Whatever, man. I’m just saying, I was watching you two and it looked pretty intense. Whatever it was. I think she was into you,” Peter replied.

“Okay, Pete, why don’t you keep cleaning tables. You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about, okay? Just keep working. Don’t give me an excuse to fire you.”

“Mmhmm. This always happens. The friends try to point out the obvious and are shut down. Whatever. It’s a good thing I’m used to it. If Jeremy hadn’t been checking the delivery in the back, he totally would have agreed with me. But whatever, put down your friends. I’ll just go clean some tables. Try not to daydream too much while I’m gone, okay?”

And with that, Peter got back to work, leaving Danny to wonder if there really had been more to that interaction than he thought. He really didn’t think so. Although, when he walked out from the back, he had been struck by how beautiful the woman at the bar was. He would admit that he couldn’t really take his eyes off her. She wasn’t into him. She had barely been here for ten minutes. She chugged a glass of wine and talked about her ex. Peter had no clue what he was talking about. And it didn’t matter what it looked like because he would probably never see this Mindy again.


	2. Chapter Two

“Hey, Mindy! Wait a minute!”

Mindy turned around to see her friend and coworker Maggie trying to catch up with her.

“What’s up Maggie?”

“Nothing really. You got out of here pretty quickly last night. Something wrong? Is Rishi in town again?”

“Ah, no. My little brother is still wreaking havoc out on the west coast. No. I just had a terrible day yesterday and had to get out of here. You understand.”

“Yeah, of course. So did you watch You’ve Got Mail or When Harry Met Sally? Or was it a Sleepless in Seattle kind of night?”

Mindy thought back on her night. She thought of her completely embarrassing interaction with the crazy bangable bartender. She swore he got hotter in her mind the further she got from it. She couldn’t tell Maggie that she had gotten tipsy from drinking a single glass of wine too fast and made a fool of herself to a complete stranger.

“Yeah it was a You’ve Got Mail kinda night. Something about Tom Hanks just makes me feel so much better after a shitty day. You know?” Mindy lied, hoping she was convincing.

Maggie didn’t seem to notice anything wrong with what Mindy said and just nodded in understanding.

“So what are you doing tonight after you get off?”

“Umm I don’t really know. I hadn’t thought that far ahead,” Mindy responded.

“Okay, who are you and what have you done with my friend Mindy? You always used to have everything planned days in advance. Is this because of Casey? Mindy, you’re better off without him. I know you felt bad about calling off the engagement but he was a flake. You can do so much better than him. Is this about him moving in with that skank? You can tell me.”

“You don’t know she’s a skank. She could be a perfectly nice—“

“I don’t care if she’s Kate Middleton. She’s the woman he moved on with so that makes her a skank. Friend laws. You can’t refute them.”

“Thanks, Maggie. I don’t want it to be about him but it is. I mean what am I doing with my freedom from our crummy relationship? I work all day and when I go home I watch romantic comedies that make me feel more alone and try to drown myself in wine and my own self-pity. It’s not a great recipe for getting over a failed relationship.”

 “You need a night out! That’s what you need. We’re going to give that to you. It’s gonna be great!”

“And when are we going to find the time to take this night out? In between deliveries and patients? And there is no way we’re doing that. You’re going to want to invite everyone and I’m sorry, but my ideal night out doesn’t include cleaning up Morgan’s drunken vomit because he has no will power.”

“So we won’t include Morgan. But you and I, we could have a great night out! Just trust me. I know this super trendy club. It would be my pleasure to get us in.”

“You are in your thirties. How on earth do you have the hookup at clubs still?”

“With a body like this,” Maggie said, motioning down her body, “and a mind like mine, you can get in just about anywhere,” she stated matter-of-factly.

“Mmm. Okay. Let’s do it! Yeah! A club night sounds great!”

“It’s on! I’m calling my hook up right now,” Maggie said, pulling out her phone. She scrolled through her phone and dramatically pushed on a contact. Holding the phone up to her ear, she looked at Mindy saying, “Get ready for the night of your—Mom?”

“Your club hookup is your mom?”

“No of course not! Yeah, Mom, it’s nice to hear your voice too. Yeah I actually have to go. I know we never talk, Mom but I’m a busy girl. I, I know. That sounds great. Oh look someone’s in labor! Bye,” Maggie yelled into the phone, hoping to get her mother off the phone. “Well this club night better be awesome because I misdialed and called my mom and now I have to have dinner with her this weekend. Great.”

“Thank you Maggie. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had!” Mindy moved over and hugged Maggie from the side.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

 ~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night, Mindy looked fierce as hell, at least in her own opinion, and she and Maggie had just gotten past the bouncer into the club. The bass was pounding and Mindy couldn’t remember the last time she had been more excited.

“Maggie! This place is fantastic! Yeah, we’re like ten years older than their target crowd and yeah, we’re risking hearing loss with the level of volume here, but this is awesome!”

Just then, the music cut out and a voice came over the speakers, “Everybody get ready for DJ –“

The cheers for the next DJ drowned out the sound of the DJ’s name. The beats started dropping and everyone seemed pretty excited. Mindy looked over at Maggie and noticed a look of contempt on her face.

“You’ve got to be shitting me!” Maggie yelled, barely loud enough for Mindy to hear her. Looking over and noticing Mindy’s confused face, she pointed toward the DJ stand. Mindy followed her finger and saw him.

“Do you mind if we go?” Mindy yelled above the din. “I’m sorry, but I just really don’t want to hear the beats that brought down our relationship, you know?”

“No we’re going. And I’m gonna ream him on all social media sites anonymously! Just because I can!” Maggie said, grabbing Mindy’s arm and dragging her toward the exit.

Once they were back out on the street, the two women turned toward each other, contemplating their options.

Maggie started talking first, “Okay, I could maaaybe get us in at this one club in Brooklyn. But I’ll be honest, it’s going to be even younger than that daycare in there.”

“You know what would be nice? Just finding a bar to chat in while we have some drinks. I could barely hear my own thoughts in there, let alone your voice.”

“Yeah that sounds nice. Where should we go?”

Mindy didn’t even really have to think about it. She knew a place.


	3. Chapter Three

It was a Friday night. Shulman’s was at its usual level of patrons. Most of the people that came in here were old friends of Danny’s. Peter and Jeremy brought in a good amount of friends too. And Tamara sometimes brought in some people, even if she insisted that this wasn’t her or their scene. She couldn’t turn down the job though. Shulman’s was usually busy enough to keep it afloat, but never terribly loud. And honestly, Danny was grateful. He didn’t want to run one of those places overrun with rude customers and people so loud that he couldn’t hear his own thoughts. There were the random people that came in off the street. Like the woman from last night. Damn, he couldn’t keep his mind off of her. He didn’t think he would have even given her a second thought if Peter hadn’t said something. Okay, yeah she was gorgeous, but he saw a lot of pretty faces come in and out of the bar. He didn’t know what it was about her that he just couldn’t forget. Right then, like magic, he looked up at the opening door and she walked in accompanied by some blonde. Danny felt a weird buzzing through him as he saw her laughing with her friend as she walked in. She had come back. Why? He stood there staring when Jeremy bumped into him. “Oh, sorry, chap. I didn’t mean to…” Jeremy trailed off. He looked at Danny and then looked to see the two women that Danny was staring at so intensely.

“So which one are we staring at? Or is it that we aren’t used to people outside our regulars and we don’t know how to properly greet customers anymore? Just tell me which one it is and I can get on board,” Jeremy said, trying to get through to Danny.

Danny wasn’t paying attention though. He was watching as Mindy and her friend made their way to a small table near the door.  They were deep in conversation and neither had even looked up since they sat down. Maybe she hadn’t come back to see him. Maybe she just liked the atmosphere. If she had come back for him, she would have looked around for him by now, right?

Danny was so spaced out that Jeremy decided to take the initiative and go over to the ladies.

“Hello there! Welcome to Shulman’s! What can I get you lovely ladies to drink tonight?”

Damn it. Danny should have been the one to go over there. He was so out of it just thinking about her that he had missed his chance. Danny tried to make himself look busy behind the bar when really it was all he could do not to look at her more. Jeremy swaggered back over in that annoying British way of his and got to work on the drinks for the ladies. He was working on a mixed drink and turned to Danny saying, “Be a good lad, will you, and get a wine glass? Red wine with an ice cube, if you don’t mind helping me out.” Danny bit his tongue so he didn’t remind Jeremy that this was actually _his_ bar and that Jeremy simply worked for him. Instead he just poured the wine into the glass and made sure to add the ice cube. He knew who this was for. He wanted to take it over there to her and maybe start up another conversation. But he didn’t trust himself to make it there with the wine still in the glass. He couldn’t understand the effect that this random woman had on him. Maybe it was her honesty. No one was ever that candid with him. Except maybe his friends, but he didn’t think they counted. There was something about this woman, something besides her obvious good looks, that was throwing him for a loop. He hadn’t felt this way in a really long time and it was messing with him. Danny felt a stab of jealousy as he saw Jeremy approach the women again with their drinks. “Pull it together, man,” he thought to himself. “You don’t even know this woman. Calm down. If she had come here to see you, she would have talked to you by now.”

“Did you say something? Are you talking to me?”

Danny hadn’t realized he was talking out loud to himself and he definitely didn’t realize that Tamara had come in behind him. He really needed to pull it together.

“Sorry, Tamara, just muttering to myself. You know, reminders for orders and stuff. Nothing big,” he said, trying to make sure his staff didn’t think he was going insane. Really though, maybe he was.

 ~~~~~~~~~~

From the moment they walked in, Mindy had been trying her best not to look up at the bar. She kept actively resisting the urge to look for Danny. She knew Maggie would pick up on whatever weird energy was coming from Mindy, and Mindy just wasn’t up for trying to explain to Maggie when she didn’t even know how to explain it all to herself. It had been one conversation. Yeah, he was ridiculously attractive. Yeah, he had let her ramble on and on like an idiot. Yeah, he grabbed her so she wouldn’t fall on her ass. But really, she did that with tons of patients and she didn’t think any of them were harboring any weird attraction for her. That didn’t count though. Her patients were female and as far as she could remember, none of them were crushing on her. Whoa, way too soon to call it a crush. “Slow your roll there, Lahiri,” she thought to herself. God, she needed to calm down. Maybe just one look up at him would calm her down. She slowly picked her head up and scanned the room, trying to make it seem like she was just taking in the scenery. Really though, the only scenery she wanted to take in was the gorgeous bartender from last night. Mindy let her eyes rove over to the bar and then she saw him. He was pouring a glass of wine. Just like last night. Wow he looked like he had strong arms. “Well of course he has strong arms, he saved your ass from meeting the floor,” she corrected herself mentally.

“I wonder what those arms would feel like holding me tightly against his body…” she thought. “Damn it. No. Calm down. This is way too far. It was one chat. It wasn’t like you even kissed. You need to get your thoughts in order, Lahiri.”

“Mindy, you okay? You look like you’re waging a mental battle,” Maggie said, interrupting her stream of thoughts.

“Yeah. I’m fine! I am just glad to be out of that stupid club,” Mindy replied. She knew that bringing up the club, and more specifically, Casey, would send Maggie on a long rant, leaving Mindy alone with her thoughts for a second.

“Here you go, ladies! Red wine with ice for this lady, and Sex on the Beach for this one here,” the not Danny bartender said with a big wink in Maggie’s direction as he put her drink in front of her.

“Well thank you, sir. That was so prompt,” Maggie said in an uncomfortably sultry voice. At least uncomfortable for Mindy. Though maybe if Maggie was preoccupied with the Brit, Mindy could go talk to Danny again. Who was she kidding? She had completely embarrassed herself in front of him just the night before. Danny wasn’t into her, no matter how he listened to her ramblings or how he seemed to have a very intense look in his eyes as he saved her from falling. If he was really into her, he would have come over and talked to her. Maybe served her their drinks as an excuse to say hello or something. Nope, this was one sided.

“Story of my life,” Mindy sighed.

“What is?” Maggie asked.

“Huh? Uh, just the wine wasn’t cold enough. It’s no big deal. Warm wine is delicious too.”

“Would you like me to get you a colder glass? Or maybe more ice?” Jeremy asked politely, though he looked like he didn’t want to stop flirting with her friend.

Mindy found her moment. “No it’s fine. I’ll just go up to the bar and figure it out. Wine may not be what I needed anyway. You two keep talking.”

She looked up at the bar before she got up. He was up there rearranging glasses or something. He looked busy but she didn’t care. She needed to talk to him again. Mindy stood up and sauntered over to the bar, hoping she looked even the least bit sexy. He didn’t look up until she was standing directly at the bar. He looked taken aback by her mere presence. She didn’t know what to do with that. So she did what she does best, she rambled.

“Hey stranger! I was hoping for another drink.”

“Was the wine not to your liking?”

“Oh no it was great. I’m just not really in the mood for wine anymore.”

“Well okay. What are you in the mood for?”

You. It was right there. She couldn’t say it though. He’d think she was insane.

“That’s my problem. I’m not a very adventurous drinker. I don’t know what I like. Hey Mr. Bartender, what do you suggest?” She could have died at the chipper sound of her voice. She sounded like a cartoon mouse. No one in the history of time would be attracted to that. “Come on, Mindy, you’re better than this,” she thought to herself.

“Well how about a Vodka Cranberry?”

“No clue what that is. Sounds great!”

Mindy was really just trying to spend more time with him, even if that meant ditching her friend. She kept turning down drink after drink to keep talking to Danny. She turned around to glance at Maggie. She seemed pretty absorbed in her own conversation with the British hunk that brought them their drinks. Mindy was glad because she was desperate to spend more time at the bar.

“Mmm this is good but I don’t know how I feel about the rum. What am I a pirate?” Mindy said about the fourth drink he had made for her.

“You said you liked the rum two drinks ago but that you didn’t like what I mixed it with…”

“Well that was two drinks ago. Maybe I’m not feeling the rum now.” She kept playing with him.

“You realize that even though you take two sips of these drinks and turn them away, I’m still making you pay, Lahiri,” Danny said as he started on yet another drink. Mindy couldn’t really process anything because he had talked to her like they were friends. He called her Lahiri, proving that he remembered not only her first name, but her last name too. Maybe he was just good with his patrons. That was probably it.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, you love the attention,” Mindy said, not really knowing what to say.

“Mmhmm, sure. That’s what all my friends say about me. I’m a real attention whore,” Danny replied, laughing as he did so.

“Why else would you own a bar? I bet you really love when people do this and demand drink after drink because one isn’t hitting the spot.”

“Oh yeah. It’s my favorite. I think it’s my staff’s favorite too. Especially when they pick up my slack on a Friday night.”

“Oh shit. I’m sorry. I’m so picky and was being such a pain and you have other customers. Whew, guess you saw that self-centered streak. Really, forget the drinks. I’ve probably had enough to drink at this point anyway and I –“

“Mindy, don’t worry about it. I was kidding! It’s really not that busy. And if my staff is picking up slack, it’s not mine they’re picking up. It’s Jeremy’s since he has his tongue down your friend’s throat,” Danny said, gesturing to where Maggie was indeed making out with the other bartender.

“Hmmm. Well, frankly I’m not surprised.”

“Yeah, it’s not much of a shocker for Jeremy either.”

The two of them continued chatting for a while longer. Mindy abandoned her plot for more drinks and instead was sipping on the wine she had started with. It was warm and it was watered down, but in Danny’s company she found she didn’t really notice. The two of them were sharing stories and she talked about being a doctor and he talked about owning the bar. He talked about his staff like they were his siblings. It was endearing to Mindy. She talked about how crazy her work friends were, and with Maggie as evidence, he believed her. She was so proud that she hadn’t yet made a fool of herself.

“I feel like I should thank you. Or rather, my ass should thank you.” And there it was. The fool had reemerged.  His face turned a lovely shade of red and she began sputtering out a follow up. “I just was going to say I should thank you for saving me from falling and everything last night. That was really sweet. You have surprisingly catlike reflexes. That’s like really impressive. I would have been in a ton of pain today. And my day was mainly sitting down so my ass would have not been happy had it hit the ground as hard as it was going to. Again, had you not saved me.” She couldn’t stop talking. She just kept rambling. Why on earth did this man put up with her ramblings? Was he a masochist or something?

Danny laughed and she felt a warmth spread out through her chest and face. Damn he had a good laugh.

“It’s really no problem. The injury paperwork is a bitch, anyway,” he said, repeating himself from last night.

“Mmm, yeah, I bet.”

She couldn’t stop staring into his eyes. If eyes were the windows to the soul, man she wanted to jump through the window. His eyes were like a deep brown pool of chocolate. And damn it, now she was hungry. She kept staring, still unable to stop. Mindy was staring so intently that she couldn’t tell that he was doing the exact same thing. They were both leaning further across the bar, still unaware of the mirrored actions from the other.

“Mindy! One of my patient’s is in labor and apparently Dr. Richards is on call and can’t read my file. I have to go to the hospital. Will you come with me? I’ve had way too much to drink,” Maggie said, interrupting this intense moment.

Mindy finally broke eye contact with Danny and leaned away. She turned around and looked at Maggie. She was positive that with all the making out her friend had done that she really hadn’t done all that much drinking. Maybe she felt bad for abandoning Mindy and thought this was her way of helping a pal out. Right now though, Mindy was verging on furious.

“Uh, yeah Mags. Let’s do it. Babies wait for no one. Not even blind Dr. Richards,” Mindy replied, albeit halfheartedly. She really wanted to stay and talk with Danny more.

“Well it’s been fun. You guys safe to get to the hospital?” Danny asked.

“It’s like right over there. We’ll be fine. Thanks, sir,” Maggie said, then turning toward Jeremy she added, “And you. This was great. It should happen again soon.” She pulled out a card and handed it to him with a wink. Mindy almost groaned at the sight of it.

“Thanks for all my drinks. How much is the damage?” Mindy asked, turning back to Danny.

Danny looked at her thoughtfully and then made a waving motion between them, “Don’t worry about it. It’s on the house.”

“What? No! I couldn’t possibly do that!”

“Hey you helped me study up on my drink mixing. The regulars mainly get beers. It was fun actually making drinks for once,” Danny replied, smiling at her with this ridiculously adorable crooked grin.

“Well thank you,” she replied.

“Anytime.”

She and Maggie walked toward the door and she turned around, looking back at the bar. She saw that Danny was watching her walk away again. “Hey, sometime you’ll have to let me make it up to you,” Mindy said in a voice she hoped sounded sultry.

Danny blinked a couple of times and then replied, “Yeah. I’d like that.”


	4. Chapter Four

Monday night came and Mindy felt like all she had done since Friday was think of Danny. Work didn’t distract her well enough. Her usual weekend binging on trashy reality shows didn’t even fully distract her. She just kept thinking about him. Before she could stop herself, if she really even wanted to stop herself, Mindy was grabbing her coat and heading in the direction of Shulman’s. She was almost there when she slowed down almost to a stop. What was she doing? She was going to seem like some crazy stalker. Being there three times since Thursday seemed a bit much. But still, she felt like there was something between her and Danny. She was next door to the bar as she stopped there to contemplate everything to herself. She didn’t hear anyone come up behind her.

“Mindy?”

She whipped her head around and she saw him. Ugh, he was attractive.

“Hey, Danny! What are you doing here?”

“Well, it’s my bar right there so…”

She laughed nervously, “Oh right. Duh. I just didn’t hear you come up behind me.”

“Sorry if I startled you. If you were coming by, sorry, but the bar is closed on Mondays.”

Mindy felt her heart drop a little. She had wanted the excuse to just sit at the bar and chat some more. It seemed easier than straight up stalking him.

“Oh is it? I was actually just in the neighborhood. I work at the hospital a few blocks over. I didn’t even realize I was right in front of the bar,” Mindy said, trying to cover up her disappointment. He looked down at his feet. Wait, was Danny disappointed that she wasn’t there to see him?

“Ah. Gotcha. That’s a nice hospital. I’ve had to pick up my buddy, Peter there quite a few times. The ER staff always seems friendly,” he said in reply. Was he actually disappointed? That’s what it sounded like.

“Yeah it’s okay. I mean I am a bit saddened that the bar is closed. If I had realized I was right by the cheapest bar in New York, I definitely would have planned to get more free drinks out of you,” Mindy said with a wink at the end. What the hell? Did she just wink? What is wrong with her?

“Well I have some work I have to do, if you wanted a drink, I could always let you in,” Danny offered.

“Really? Even though you’re closed?”

“Yeah, sure. I do own the place.”

“That you do. That you do.”

Danny turned and unlocked the door, holding it open for her. He turned on the lights behind her and she found her way to a seat at the bar. Danny went into the back and came back with some boxes. He pulled out a wine glass and poured her a glass of wine without even asking. He plopped an ice cube in it and placed it in front of her. Mindy stared up at him with wide eyes.

“Sorry. Is that not what you wanted?”

“No that’s exactly what I wanted. You didn’t even have to ask.”

“Well it was the only thing I could get you to drink on Friday. I figured it was the safer option,” he said, laughing as he spoke.

Mindy smiled at him appreciatively. Most of her boyfriends couldn’t order a drink for her after months of going out and she had met Danny twice and he knew her drink of choice. This wasn’t going to help with her burgeoning feelings for him. Danny got to work unloading boxes and she watched him as he worked. Had he always had those long eyelashes? He looked like a freaking pony. When he bent to pick up another box, she noticed how the muscles in his back moved through his t-shirt. They seemed like a masterpiece too. She needed to start speaking so it wasn’t just her ogling him while he worked and she drank.

“Danny, do you need any help?”

“Nah. Besides, you’re drinking. I don’t let my people drink on the job. Though I can’t really tell between Peter’s drunk personality and normal personality.”

“You can’t drink on the job? Why own a bar if every night you’re sober? Oh my gosh! Are you a recovering alcoholic and this is how you feel you’re giving back to society for all the hell you caused while you were drunk? You torture yourself every night to give others what was formerly your vice?”

Danny looked up at her with a quizzical expression. He started laughing. She hoped that was a good thing.

“No. I’m not a recovering alcoholic. Glad I give off that vibe though. Actually, I inherited the bar.”

Mindy thought over what he said. “So you aren’t Shulman?”

“No. I’m Castellano. Shulman was like a father to me. He was this old friend of my parents’ who stuck around even when my dad didn’t. I was barely able to drink myself when he took me under his wing and showed me the ropes of this place. Neither of his kids were interested in it. About ten years ago he decided out of the blue to hand this place over to me. He just up and spontaneously retired and left the whole thing to me.”

“Wow. That’s kind of an awesome story. This place is like your legacy isn’t it?” Mindy asked, genuinely wanting to hear more about his attachment to this bar.

“Yeah I guess. Eventually the old staff quit along with him. Once they left, I thought about changing the name but I couldn’t change what he had given me. We worked here together like father and son. It was special to me. When I needed help I recruited two buddies of mine from college. Luckily they didn’t have very high aspirations. And Peter knows his way around a bar pretty damn well. Always has. Jeremy was a harder sell, but he had just been the casualty of a downsize and didn’t want to go back to England. He claimed he didn’t know the words anymore and couldn’t go back. So I brought them both in and the three of us have been working together since. Somehow along the way we found Tamara that added that dose of estrogen that seemed to be lacking from the staff. And somehow the four of us kind of feel like a little family. It’s nice. Feels like what Shulman always wanted for this place,” Danny told the story as he kept unboxing items and moving around behind the bar. He paused, stepped closer, putting his hands on the bar and looked up at her. “Sorry if that was a lot of information. I just really love this place.”

“Don’t be sorry. That was a really sweet story. Really heartwarming. You can tell. How much you love it,” Mindy answered reassuringly, putting her hand on one of his. He looked down at where their hands were touching and then looked back up at her. They stayed that way, just looking at each other and her hand holding his.

“Mindy…”

As she was about to respond, there was a noise in the back and both of them snapped their heads toward the commotion. Moment ruined. Again.


	5. Chapter Five

Danny ran to the back to see what the hell had just ruined that moment.

“Hey Danny, I think I left my wallet here last night. I’ve had to appeal to people’s kinder sides all day until I could come in here and look for it,” Peter said, his voice echoing throughout the back room.

Danny sighed. Of course it was Peter.

“Why didn’t you just come by earlier and look for it? That’s a lot easier than trying to get free food in New York,” Danny ventured.

“Yeah, that’s the thing. I also lost my key. Don’t be mad. It’s definitely in one of like three or four places. And one of those is my washing machine,” Peter admitted.

“Seriously? That’s like the third time you’ve lost your key, Pete. What do I need to do, chain it to your wrist permanently?”

“That wouldn’t be a terrible idea. Anyway, I remembered you said you were coming by tonight to stock up since you can’t come in tomorrow and so I thought I’d just come by when you came by so I didn’t have to admit that I lost my key. Which I guess I did anyway. Damn.”

“Okay. You try and find your wallet. I’m gonna go back out and keep stocking,” Danny said, heading back out towards the bar.

“Well why don’t I come talk to you?” Peter offered.

“No. I really don’t think that’s necessary. You just keep looking for your wallet. Wouldn’t want you to have to replace everything in there, right?”

“Yeah, a second time would just be ridiculous,” Peter agreed, unaware of Danny’s evasive tone.

Danny continued out toward the bar, hoping he looked like he wasn’t rushing. He was though. He had been so shocked when he saw Mindy seemingly outside the bar. Danny didn’t want to admit it, but he was disappointed when she said she wasn’t there to see him. It was like she was confirming how much of an idiot he was for not being able to stop thinking of her. Mindy seemed genuinely interested in what he was saying earlier. Maybe that was the wine. But then there was that moment right before Peter had started making noise. She had her hand on his and he swore she was leaning in towards him. He wasn’t making that up, was he?

“Sorry about that. That was just Pete. He loses everything and always starts here to try and find them,” Danny said as he came to stand in front of her from behind the bar. She nodded seemingly in understanding.

“Yeah. I have a friend like that,” Mindy said, nodding still.

Danny nodded too, scrambling to think of ways to get back to that moment earlier. He didn’t want to seem too aggressive. But he also really wanted to see where that was going. All he had thought about pretty much since he met her was what it would be like to really talk with her or kiss her or do more than kiss her. Hell, he just wanted to know what it would be like to do more than serve her drinks. He realized he was kind of staring at her and decided he needed to say something. What he wanted to do was ask her out. Coffee or lunch or something just outside the bar. He was just about to get the nerve to do it when she started talking.

“Oh God! I didn’t realize how late it was. I have a really early C-Section in the morning. I should be going. Stupid work. How much for the wine?”

Danny felt his stomach deflate. Of course she had to leave. He could club Peter for interrupting them.

“Don’t worry about the wine. The register isn’t even open so I can’t take your money anyway,” Danny said a bit disappointedly.

Mindy looked up from her purse and looked him straight in the eye. “I can’t accept that. That means you’ve basically bought me like six or seven drinks at this point. That’s a bit ridiculous.” She pulled out a fifty from her wallet and looked around for a tip jar. Since it wasn’t out, she grabbed a glass from behind the bar, set it down and stuck the bill in it. “I assume you can accept tips. And I feel like that still probably hasn’t paid up for Friday night, so I guess I’ll still owe you,” she said looking at him intensely.

He could barely speak past the lump in his throat so he just looked back at her and choked out, “Okay.”

She gathered up her stuff, looked back at him, placed her hand back over his, squeezed it slightly and said, “Thanks for…for whatever this was. It was fun.” With that she turned and walked away again. And as usual, he couldn’t help but watch her leave, mesmerized by her.

He stood there, staring after her long after she had left. He didn’t know how long Peter had been standing in the doorway before he said, “Hey, was that the chick from the other night? And the night before that? The one that you were like all over?”

“I was not all over her,” Danny countered.

“So it was the same girl? What was she doing here tonight? We’re closed. Oh man! Are you porking our mysterious new customer?” Peter asked excitedly.

“What? No. And for the love of God, could you please stop using the phrase ‘porking,’” Danny replied halfheartedly. He was still mad at Peter for interrupting whatever moment they had. He kept working to put things away. He wanted to get out of here at a reasonable time. He was meeting his mother early the next day to take her on her errands. Maybe spending time with her would help him get Mindy off his mind.

Danny was getting ready to leave when he heard his phone ringing. He glanced down at the phone and saw the name of his ex-wife. “What the hell does she want?” he muttered before answering the phone. “Hello?” As he was talking with her, all it took was one time saying her name to have Peter pop out from whatever corner he had been lurking in.

“Why the hell is Christina calling you? Give me the phone! I’m gonna give her a piece of my mind,” Peter said, fighting to take Danny’s phone from him.

“Stop it. Stop. No, not you. Sorry. Please, by all means continue,” Danny said into the phone while still fighting Peter off. “Yeah fine, whatever. I’ll see you then.” And with that, he hung up the phone.

“Okay. What was that? And why the hell are you meeting the devil incarnate?”

“She said she had some epiphany and she really really needs to speak with me,” Danny informed him. “I don’t pretend to know what it’s about.”

“Let’s say she wants to get back together. That she realized she wronged the best man in New York City. Nay, the state of New York. Nay, New England. Nay –“

“Do you have a point you’re getting to?” Danny asked before Peter spiraled out as he was prone to doing.

“You can’t get back with her. I don’t care if she gets down on her knees begging for forgiveness and promising some pretty interesting sexual favors. You can’t do it. You are finally happy again. Or at least sort of happy. You can’t do it Danny. You just can’t. She’s the devil. She is. She cheated on you and now she probably wants to apologize in hopes of winning you back because she realized that whatever scum would be her cheating accomplice is not a man as good as Daniel Castellano,” Peter said sounding rather out of breath by the end of it.

“I appreciate when you praise my worth, but I doubt she wants to get back together.”

“Sure. Sure, of course. Then why is she calling you late-ish at night to ask to meet with you?”  
“I don’t know, Peter. I’m as in the dark as you are.”

“Just promise me, you won’t take her back. And I swear Jeremy and Tamara are going to hear about this.”

“I’m sure they will. Listen, this night has been kind of all over the place. I’m gonna head home. And since you don’t have a key to lock up, you should too. Okay?”

“Okay.”

Peter and Danny started shutting off the lights and walking out the door. As Danny was turned around to lock up, Peter said, “Hey can we agree that you’ll wear a wire so then I can hear everything? Maybe an earpiece too so I can help you not make the biggest mistake of your life?”

“No, Pete. Goodnight.” Danny started walking in the direction of his subway line hoping Peter would take the hint and go in the other direction toward his home.

“We haven’t said the last on this, Daniel!” He heard Peter yell after him.

“Mmhmm, whatever,” Danny said to himself as he kept walking. What a night it had been. Honestly, if Mindy had been there, he probably wouldn’t have answered the phone when Christina called. Even agreeing to make plans with his ex-wife hadn’t been the worst moment of the night. All he could think about for his whole ride home was how he hoped he hadn’t completely missed his chance with Mindy Lahiri.


	6. Chapter Six

This week had been insane. Mindy didn’t think she had ever delivered more babies in four days than she had in the last four days. She was exhausted. She laid on the couch in the doctor’s lounge messing around on her phone. She kept trying and failing to find the energy to get up and head home. Pretty much everyone she knew was out enjoying their Friday night. Friday night, date night. That’s what everyone kept saying. And it annoyed her. Mindy would love to be out on a date right now, but as it was she didn’t have the energy to shave her legs, let alone turn on her date personality and actually get up off the couch.

“Hey Dr. L! Man you delivered a lot of babies today,” her nurse Morgan said as he walked in the room and plopped down at her feet. It was a sad day when the only person around to talk to her was Morgan. She loved Morgan in his own weird way, but he was not the greatest company. Usually he would start off a conversation about the other person and then somehow turn it around to talk about his hordes of dogs.

“Yep. They just all wanted to share a birthday didn’t they? Listen, Morgan, I have a question. Have you ever done anything stupid?”

“Are you kidding me? Only all the time. One time I was playing with my dog, Grover, and then one of my other dogs, Nicole, she wasn’t happy that I was giving him my attention and so then she –“

“Yeah, Morgan, as much as I love stories about your dogs, I meant like with a human. Have you ever done something impulsively that seemed like a great idea at the time and then once you were past the situation, you realized you were a major idiot and was probably going to come off as a stalker? Have you ever done something like that?”

“Hmmm. That seems like you’re aiming for something rather specific. What did you do?” Morgan asked as he reached forward poking her like he was trying to get the answer out of her.

“I didn’t do anything. I’m asking for a friend,” Mindy insisted.                                                                                                    

“Everyone knows that’s just code for, “It’s really me asking but I don’t want to sound stupid or slutty.” Literally everyone knows that. Spill. And I want all the juicy details. All of em,” Morgan resumed poking her to try and get answers.

“Okay fine, fine! Just stop poking me! I’m probably going to bruise.” Mindy took a deep breath and sat up straighter on the couch. She wasn’t really ready to admit the stupid little girl thing that she had done. She knew though that if she was going to tell anyone, Morgan would be a hell of a lot better to tell than Maggie. She took another deep breath and then looked up at Morgan.

“Okay so…there’s this guy I met not long ago and I—“

“How long ago?”

“A week ago. And I’ve seen him a few times since then and he seems like a really great guy and –“

“Is he attractive?”

“Incredibly. Wait, why does that matter? Don’t answer that, I’m just gonna keep talking. So anyway, I think I might like this guy and the last couple of times we’ve seen each other there was a really intense moment where I definitely would have kissed him and I was pretty sure he would have done the same except we got interrupted both times and –“

“Wait! You barely know this guy and you’re thinking about kissing him? We’ve known each other for years and you’ve never once tried to kiss me!” Morgan stated bitterly.

“Ummm…yeah, Morgan, that’s because I’m your boss. It would be inappropriate,” Mindy said, trying to cover her tracks. “Anyway, I was at his bar on Monday and it felt like things were going places and then his friend came in and I realized I had a C-Section early the next morning and so whatever it was got cut short. But he went in the back to talk to his friend and this is when I did what I’m regretting slash am super embarrassed that I actually did.”

Morgan inched closer to her so their faces were uncomfortably close. “What did you do?”

“Well, he left his phone out on the bar and I grabbed it and put my number in it while he was in the back. I mean he didn’t even have a passcode on it so he was begging for someone to eventually do something to his phone right?”

“Dr. L!! That is awesome. Question. How do you know he’ll ever see your number is in there? I mean who just scrolls through their contacts?”

“Yeah…I also texted myself from his phone so that I would have his number…”

Morgan paused and just stared at her. Mindy was really hoping he was going to assure her that people did that all the time and she wasn’t insane. She was though. She totally was.

Morgan finally started speaking again. “Well that is, uh, certainly, um, interesting. I, um…” And then he just trailed off. Now she was incredibly glad she hadn’t told Maggie.

“My God what have I done? I’m such an idiot! I have to figure out a way to delete it. Morgan, thanks for your ears. I have to go!” Mindy said as she gathered up her stuff and ran out of the lounge. She heard footsteps behind her and it turned out Morgan was following her. “I’m coming with you. I want to see how you get out of this one.”

“Damn it, Morgan. No. Just leave me to suffer my embarrassment alone. For once in my life.”

“I can’t do that. And the longer you take to shake me off, the more time you’re giving him to find your number.”

“Ugh! Fine, you can come. But we’re doing this my way.”

They found their way to Shulman’s and Mindy commanded Morgan to go inside alone and find a place away from the bar. She waited a beat and then went in herself. She walked straight to the bar and sat down. There would be no pretense that she didn’t want to see Danny tonight. She looked around and didn’t see him. The only bartender she saw was the British one who had made out with Maggie and he was currently chatting with Morgan. Man he could make friends quickly. She would wait, then. Mindy looked down and realized she was still wearing her scrubs. That was definitely not her best look. She should have taken the time to change.

“Hey! Have you been helped?” Mindy looked up and saw another bartender, who was decidedly not Danny, approach her.

“Umm no. I’m not really ready yet. I’m waiting for a friend to show up.” Well she wasn’t completely lying.

“Danny isn’t here.”

Mindy snapped her head back up and looked at this guy. How could he know who she came here to see? She had been here like three times.

“Uh, um what do you mean by that? Who’s Danny?” She tried covering up lamely.

“I recognize you. You’re that girl who’s been by a lot lately. Right?”

“I haven’t been in _that_ much,” Mindy added rather self-consciously. She thought for a second and then asked, “Where is Danny? Isn’t the owner usually here?”

“Eh he’s out with a lady tonight. He’ll be back tomorrow though,” Peter informed her.

Danny was out with someone else? Wow she was an idiot. Clearly it was all one sided, as she had been trying to convince herself for days. Mindy was barking up the wrong tree. She felt like her stomach was dropping to her toes. And on top of it all, her number was still in his phone.

“Okay. Well I just needed to return something but I’ll just catch him another time,” Mindy said trying to not sound as deflated as she felt. She got up to go over and find Morgan when she turned back around and asked, “Wait, which one are you? Are you the drunk fratty one?”

“Did Danny say that about me? How rude of him. I’m Peter. I mean to be honest, he’s not completely wrong with that assessment. But I would have thought a bro would at least describe me better than that!”

She smiled nervously and waved and walked away to find Morgan. He was still chatting with Jeremy when she approached him.

“Ahh, well if it isn’t Mindy Lahiri, my girlfriend,” Morgan proclaimed, putting an arm around her shoulders.

“Morgan, I have begged you to stop introducing me as your girlfriend. I’m your boss. If I wanted to, I could easily file a harassment suit against you for doing that.”

“You wouldn’t do that,” he said, squeezing her a little. “So was that him? Did you take care of everything?”

“No and no. It’s been a very successful night. I’m going to go home now and wallow. It’s really what I do best,” Mindy said as she turned to head out.

“Wait! You’re Maggie’s friend right? You were here with her last Friday right?” Jeremy asked.

Mindy turned back around slowly and evaluated his expression. By his face she would guess that Maggie hadn’t reciprocated any exchanges.

“If it’s a good thing that I’m her friend, then yes, I am. If it is not a good thing, then, no you must be mistaken.”

“Well whenever you see her, tell her Jeremy Reed is desperately trying to get ahold of her. She was quite the firecracker the last time we met,” Jeremy said with a wink.

“Wait! What do you two do when you hang out without me? Do you two ever invite me to things or is it because I don’t have a medical degree?” Morgan asked Mindy in an almost aggressive way.

“Morgan, calm down. Take it up with Maggie. She made the plans. Really though, I’m leaving now. Bye guys!” Mindy said as she finally turned and left Shulman’s.

She was safely waiting for the subway when she thought she heard her name being said. Mindy turned around and scanned the area. No one looked like they were trying to get her attention. She turned her attention back to her phone when she could have sworn she heard her name again. She turned around again and this time there was someone standing there. Casey. Mindy fought the urge to groan as she looked up at him. The train was pulling into the station and she wanted to skip the awkward interaction with him and just jump on the train.

“Mindy, how have you been?” Casey asked as he pulled her in for an awkward hug. She barely hugged him back and then quickly pulled away. She’d admit to almost anyone that lately work had been crazy stressful and her personal life was currently nothing to write home about, but if he was here to brag about his new exciting life, she could lie her ass off and do the same.

“You know what? I’ve been really good Casey. Yeah, work has been a bit hectic but bringing life into the world is so rewarding. And I’ve been out a lot lately and meeting new people and having new adventures. It’s been exactly what I needed,” she said, lying straight through her teeth. It wasn’t all a lie though. Her job was rewarding and she had met new people. She just made it seem more exciting with her tone. “Anyway, this is my train. I need to be getting home,” Mindy said moving to get on the train.

“Great. I need to get on this one too! What are the odds?” Casey said, jumping on the train behind Mindy.

“Yeah. Great,” she mumbled to herself. She sat down and he threw himself down into the seat next to her. He kept talking about something to her. She wasn’t really paying attention. She just kept cursing her misfortune of running into the last person she would want to see. And she hadn’t even seen the first person she would want to see. She chimed in every now and then with a “Cool” or a “How nice” but honestly she couldn’t care less what Casey had to say. The train slowed to a stop at the next station and he jumped up to get off.

“It was really great to see you, Mindy,” Casey said as he leaned down and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She was stunned into silence. She just nodded back at him and watched him leave. She then started looking around the car. Mindy saw a man hurriedly get off the train at a different door. She could have sworn that man was Danny. He was probably just on her mind. After she broke up with Casey, every tall man in Manhattan was him. No, that wasn’t Danny. It couldn’t have been.

Mindy got home and threw her purse and coat on the ground. She proceeded to kick off her shoes and throw herself down on her couch. She just laid there, not moving for anything. She couldn’t have been laying there that long when she heard her phone go off. It was probably just Maggie or Morgan with their weekend advice. Shrugging it off, she rolled away from her phone, trying to get comfortable on the couch again. She heard the reminder ding and still ignored it. Then there was another text coming in. Groaning, she rolled back over and grabbed her phone. When she looked at who had actually texted her, she dropped her phone on her face out of shock. She scrambled to pick up her phone and sit up straighter on the couch. Danny Castellano. Danny Castellano had texted her. She tried to get her hands to stop shaking so she could open the text from him.

**Hey. I found a random number in my phone for Mindy Lahiri. I’m assuming this is the same Mindy Lahiri who keeps trying to get free drinks at my bar.**

She laughed to herself and then read on to the next text.

**If it’s not though, I apologize for this.**

She grinned from ear to ear. So apparently he had found her number. Earlier when she was freaking out about him finding it, she didn’t expect to be this giddy when he actually texted her.

**Yeah, this is Mindy Lahiri from the bar. Who’s this?**

Mindy didn’t mind messing with him just a bit more. She waited to see if he would reply. Turns out she only had to wait about a minute before a reply rolled in.

**Danny. What do you do, just leave your number in random guys’ phones and then forget about it?**

Man that was a fast response. She hoped that was a good sign.

**Maybe I do. Or maybe it’s just a good technique to see if people actually care to get in contact with me.**

It wasn’t exactly scintillating, these texts, but they made her probably the happiest she’d been all day. They spent the rest of the night texting each other back and forth. She wondered if she should bring up that she went by the bar to see him. She didn’t. She wondered if he would bring up his date. He didn’t. She felt like she was a lame teenager for getting so giddy over texting a boy, but damn if her heart didn’t jump a little every time her phone buzzed. She was pretty much ready to admit that this was indeed a crush.


	7. Chapter Seven

Two weeks had passed and Mindy had been busier than she thought she could be. She hadn’t been back to the bar. She didn’t even really notice though, because she talked to Danny pretty much regularly. Even though they only texted (though there was the occasional phone call), she really felt like she actually knew him now. All of her suspicions were confirmed. Danny was a really nice guy. He apparently was a very attentive son and helped his mother out when she needed him. They had both talked about their friends and families and jobs and a lot of surface stuff. The feeling of excitement was still there every time he texted her. She felt like she was always talking to him. She would pull out her phone between patients and deliveries and trips to and from home. She had been caught more than once with a big grin on her face. Every time someone called her out on it, she just shrugged it off and denied it. Really though, she knew how happy she was. It was probably dumb to be this happy just from texting someone. For crying out loud she hadn’t even seen him in two weeks. It certainly felt like she had though. Mindy made the decision that this weekend she would go to the bar and see if there were still any sparks in person. She was excited just planning it out. She found herself mentally picking her outfit for the occasion. She chastised herself for acting like such a little girl. But she couldn’t help it. At the end of the week, Maggie stopped by her office to see if she wanted to hang out that night.   
“Sorry babe, I can’t tonight,” Mindy said as she hurriedly packed up everything she needed. In her mind she was thinking of the fastest way back to her apartment and then the fastest way to the bar.

“What do you have plans? Oh my gosh! Do you have a date?” Maggie started bouncing up and down excitedly.

“Did someone say something about a date? Dr. L? Fess up!” Morgan said, entering himself in the conversation.

“No I don’t have a date. I just can’t hang out tonight. Now if you’ll let me leave, I am heading home,” Mindy said as she tried to maneuver around the two busybodies.

It didn’t work. They just trailed after her. “I know what this is. You have a date. You do. Is it with that guy that we hunted down a few weeks ago?” Morgan asked while trying to keep up with her.

Mindy tried not to let it show that he was right on point. Except that it wasn’t a date. She stopped abruptly and turned around to face them. They both almost collided with her. “Look. My business is my business. I don’t have to tell you two anything. I realize you’re going to say that we’re all friends and that I owe it to you, but let’s pretend for once that I don’t. I’m not going on a date. I just don’t want to tell you my plans. Okay? And you two, since we are _such_ good friends, are going to honor my wishes and not hound me about it. Yeah? Good. Now you two have a good weekend and I will see you on Monday.” Mindy finished and promptly turned around to head to the elevators and off for her hopefully exciting night.

 ~~~~~~~~~~~

Danny surveyed the Friday night crowd. It was pretty hopping. Even with the rather large amount of people there, he couldn’t stop checking his phone every few minutes to see if Mindy had texted him back. He felt like an idiot. He was so hung up on her that every time she texted him, he felt this little leap in his chest. It was nice to feel this way again, but he just wished he knew if it was one sided. He had his suspicions for both sides of the argument. Objectively, based on their interactions and how often they texted each other, she seemed like she was interested in him. But he couldn’t shake the memory of the night he saw her on the train a few weeks ago. Mindy had been sitting with some guy and they had been sitting really close. Then when the guy got up, he kissed her on the cheek. That seemed a bit intimate for a friend. He had been getting off the train when he saw her getting on and in he forgot that it was his stop. He just wanted to talk to her. He was moving towards her when he saw the tall man that eagerly jumped on after her and sat down in the seat directly next to her. He hung back to see if they would talk. And talk they did. He felt deflated. After he saw the man leave, he couldn’t move. It just kept replaying in his head. He finally realized that he had gone out of his way enough and jumped off the train. He can’t believe he had missed his chance with Mindy. There was something that kept nagging at him though. Earlier that night, Danny had been scrolling through his phone to call Christina and tell him there was traffic and he was running behind. He remembered that Peter had changed her name in his phone to Medusa. He was scrolling through the M’s and a couple of names below hers was ‘Mindy Lahiri.’ He thought it was impossible. He never asked her for her number, even though he had really wanted to. He just stared at it. Had she put her number in his phone? That was the only way it could be in there. He was so caught up in his thoughts that he realized he had never let Christina know he was running late. So naturally he got an earful about that when he got there. Peter had been right. Christina had realized the mistake she had made and did in fact want another chance with him. If she could have read his mind at dinner, she would have known it was a lost cause. His mind was effectively with another woman. He let her off gently, even though she didn’t really deserve it. He told her he had moved on and he just couldn’t pick it back up. Danny was heading to the bar to actually drink when he saw Mindy on the train. He was sitting at the bar, debating over things in his mind when he finally screwed up the courage to just text her. And from there, they pretty much never stopped texting. He didn’t know what came over him the night that he called her. Maybe he just wanted to hear her voice. He had remembered it sounding vaguely like a cartoon mouse and honestly, he loved that. He kept trying to put the tall man out of his mind. Mindy never mentioned him or any boyfriends for that matter. It gave him the delusion that maybe this smart, funny, kind, sexy as hell woman could actually be all his. He had been on his phone so much that his staff asked if they had a new phone policy at work. Danny just said he was the boss and he could do whatever he wanted and shrugged them off. It had been weeks since he had actually seen Mindy. But he felt like he was incredibly close to her. They talked about her work and how much she loved bringing babies into the world. He told her about his family and friends and she did too. He felt like they had covered about three or four dates worth of conversations really quickly. He liked feeling like he knew her so well, even if it was all in his head. Danny was more than pleased when she came into the bar. He swore she had gotten prettier in the time he hadn’t seen her. Mindy walked over to the bar with a huge smile on her face. He really liked the idea that it could be for him. Danny couldn’t remember the last time someone smiled because they wanted to see him.

“Hey stranger. Long time!” he said excitedly as she sat down at the bar.

“Yeah work has been a real drag. For some reason unborn babies don’t realize that I would like to actually have a social life,” she said, laughing.

He started laughing too. Man her laugh was contagious.

“Wine or are we running the gamut of drinks tonight?”

“Hmmm. Wine sounds tempting. You know what, I trust your judgment. You just make me something. I promise I’ll actually drink it. No Scotch though. Absolutely hate that shit.”

“Yeah okay. I like a challenge.” He quickly got to work thinking of what to make her. He just started blending alcohols and different types of juice. It felt like when he was back studying under Shulman. He looked at the concoction he had thrown together. It at least was a pretty color.

“Okay. Here you go. Fingers crossed,” he said, sliding the drink to her and popping a straw in it.

Mindy smiled up at him and lowered her mouth to the straw. He really shouldn’t be thinking about her mouth right now. She took a drink of it and closed her eyes as if she was really trying hard to absorb the taste of it. She sat there for a minute with her eyes and mouth closed as if she was trying to mess with him. Maybe she was.

“Okay what is this called? Because honestly…” she started. He was desperate to hear what she thought. “This is the most delicious drink I’ve probably ever had. Oh my God! This is awesome. Seriously, what is it called?”

“I just threw stuff together. I don’t believe it actually has a name.” He paused for a minute thinking. “How about the Lahiri special? Has a good ring to it?”

“Yeah that’s good. What if instead, we called it Hurricane Mindy? It feels more accurate. Plus with a name like mine, hurricanes never get named after me.”

He laughed at how weird it was that she wanted a hurricane with her name. But he also liked the name. He turned his back to her and picked up the little piece of chalk sitting on the counter. Under the specials list, he added “Hurricane Mindy.” He turned back around to find a radiant smile that reached her eyes. “There you go. The Hurricane Mindy. Let’s just hope that I can remember all that I put in that should I ever need to recreate it.”

She popped her head up from another sip and said, “You better remember because I want so many more of these!” She laughed as she went in for another drink. “Seriously, Danny, this is delicious.” She pushed her drink toward him. “Here, take a drink!”

“No thanks, I’m good, Min. I believe you.”

“Did you just call me Min?”

“N-no.”

“Okay, Dan.”

She pulled her drink back and took another sip. “Danny I’m serious. You have to try it. I don’t care if it’s against the rules.”

“Ugh fine.” He pulled her drink back toward him and took a drink of it. She was right, it was pretty good. But then again, he knew that Hurricane Mindy had already had a pretty big influence in his life.

“Ooh. You must be a bad boy. Breaking the rules and all,” she practically purred at him as she said it.

“Yeah you wish,” he added lamely.

“Maybe I do.”

He stared at her and she broke eye contact to take another drink. She looked back up innocently and said, “Actually I don’t. I did that phase. It’s awful. I think that was the poorest I’ve ever been because that “bad boy” said paying for dinner wasn’t his thing and somehow he convinced me that I was more of a feminist for paying for both our meals. God that guy was an asshole.”

And the tension was gone. The two of them continued to chat. He gave her crap for her favorite movie being You’ve Got Mail and she gave him crap for loving Scarface. They riffed on each other like they had known each other for years. Even without his ever growing feelings for her, Danny really appreciated just having someone to talk with. It had been a long time since he had a friend like her. Mindy was so open and she didn’t really care that he usually was not. He did think that somehow in the little amount of time he had known her that he had been more open with her than he was in most of his past relationships put together. Things got a little awkward when Peter walked out and whispered in his ear. “Buddy, just FYI, Christina came in through the back to see you again. She really can’t take no for an answer. I told her you were really busy. Should have mentioned you macking on some chick in the front. Damn. Anyway, she’s gone now. You’re welcome. At some point though, you do need to set her straight.” Danny looked over at him once he had stopped whispering/spitting in his ear. He just nodded in reply. Just then, Jeremy came running behind the bar yelling about seeing Christina out front.

“Yeah I know. I told Danny. She actually came in the back. Danny, you really need to dump that bitch. She needs to go.”  
“I don’t know how I could be any clearer what I want from her. It’s on her now,” Danny said trying to assure his friends, hoping Mindy didn’t think this was a woman he was actually dating.

She chimed in though, “Lady problems? I can help. I _know_ how to drive a bitch away. Let me at her.”

All three men turned around to look at her. Danny was really wondering what she was thinking. Jeremy popped an eyebrow up at her suggestion and started to nod slowly. Peter looked from her to Danny and then said, “I like this one. She might come in handy.”

Mindy smiled brightly and looked around the bar as if looking for her prey. “Okay. Which one is she?”

“She left. She’s not actually here,” Danny informed her.

“Oh. Well, I guess next time then.”

“Not so next time, she’s coming back. Look!” Jeremy said as they saw Christina coming toward the front doors. Mindy was in action pretty quickly. She disappeared into the back and took her drink with her. Peter followed her back there. Danny could hear chatter. He assumed they were making their plan. He also assumed Peter was informing her of the Christina situation. Really he had hoped to tell her about it himself. Christina walked straight to the bar and looked at Danny.

“Danny. We need to talk. I know what you’ve said, but I just don’t think you’ve really heard my side of it,” she said pleadingly.

“And I don’t really think you’ve heard mine. I’ve moved on.” He heard quickening footsteps from the back. He turned around and saw Mindy striding straight towards him.

“Baby! God I had the worst day! Please tell me you can leave the bar to Pete and Jere for an hour or more so we can have dinner.” She said as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Mindy leaned forward and placed a quick, casual peck on his lips. It was unexpected, it was fast, and it sent a familiar buzz zipping through him. He tried not to look stunned. She looked at him expectantly. He knew he should be talking. Danny wrapped an arm around her saying, “Um yeah babe. It is a little busy but the boys and Tam should be able to handle it. Especially if you had a crappy day,” he said, trying to sound like a convincing doting boyfriend.

“Ahh you’re the best, Daniel. I’m gonna go grab my coat and purse out of the back. Thank you!” Mindy exclaimed. She leaned back in to kiss him again. And then she was gone. He slowly turned and looked back at Christina. She looked stunned. “You really did move on?”

“Yes…”

“I thought you were just saying that to make me work harder for it. Who is she?”

“She is none of your business. Now, I just promised my girlfriend I would take her out for a late dinner. If you don’t mind, I need to go.”

He turned to walk towards the back. He looked back at her and she looked confused and maybe even a little sad. But the important part was that she was getting up and leaving, hopefully walking out of his life forever. He walked in the back to see Jeremy and Peter chatting excitedly with Mindy and telling her what a great job she had done.

“Seriously, you were so convincing. Did you really have a shitty day? I’d believe it. Are you really in love with Danny? I’d probably believe that too. Damn, why don’t you act more?” Peter kept rambling on to Mindy. She just kept laughing and smiling and agreeing that she had missed her calling. Danny hoped to himself that it wasn’t all an act. Those kisses may have been quick but he certainly felt something from them.

From there the night carried on pretty well. The boys were in such a good mood that they got the customers into a cheery mood. The comradery in the place was almost tangible. Danny couldn’t remember a more spirited evening at Shulmans. At one point Jeremy took to the keyboard and started singing Piano Man. Everyone seemed to be having a fantastic time. Mindy, Peter, and Tamara had been downing shots at the bar. Given how excited Peter was tonight, he decided to let the no drinking rule slide. By the end of the night, all Danny could remember was laughing and smiling more than pretty much any given night. Mindy kept riling people up and encouraging the liveliness. He looked at her and felt some incredibly strong things. He kept serving drink after drink. They were kicking people out after last call. There was a lot to clean up, but they didn’t really care. Mindy stayed and helped too. She seemed to have suddenly struck up a tight friendship with Peter, Jeremy, and Tamara just that night. Danny was so happy and yet all he could think about that night as he went to bed was how Mindy had kissed him.


	8. Chapter Eight

After the fantastic night at Shulman’s, Mindy had been spending most nights there. She got along so well with all of them. Peter and Jeremy were both weird in their own ways, but after she helped drive off Danny’s ex, they treated her like family. She hadn’t interacted with Tamara before that night but that girl could party. Mindy was downing shots with her like no body’s business. And apparently no one cared that she wasn’t supposed to be drinking while working. That was the kind of atmosphere it had been. It had been one of the craziest nights of her adult life. It had been awesome. And on top of all that, she had kissed Danny. Granted they weren’t long and it was all as part of an act to get rid of his ex-wife but it had happened. And the more time she spent at Shulman’s the more she wanted it to happen again. They had all been spending a lot of time together. As the days went on she was even hanging out with them outside the bar. The thing was, after the guys had realized how awesome she was, she never had any time alone with Danny anymore.  It was nice to make new friends, but she was really there all the time to see Danny. After a couple of weeks of group hangouts, she couldn’t take it anymore. On a rather hectic day, she just had to get away. She called Danny and asked him if he wanted to go to lunch. Seeing and chatting with Danny had certainly made the rest of her day go by much more smoothly. And that started a trend. Soon they were pretty much having lunch regularly throughout the week. Mindy would see him almost every other day and talk to him even more often than that. It was like they were dating except that they weren’t. And man, did she want to change that. Mindy was coming back from lunch when Morgan grabbed her in the hall and dragged her into phlebotomy.

“Soooo…who is he?” he asked while pointing a gloved finger straight at her face.

“Who is who?”

“Don’t try to owl your way out of this! Who is the man you see almost every day for lunch? Are you dating one of the lawyers on our floor?”

“No.”

“One of the midwives from upstairs?”

“Hell no.”

“A woman, perchance?”

“Morgan, did you really drag me in here to investigate me on my personal life? I have friends and sometimes I eat lunch with them. So sue me.” Mindy tried retreating to her office but he wouldn’t have it.

“Then why does the same man meet you here half the times when you go to lunch? Mmhmm, I look out the window,” Morgan said, trapping her in her lies.

“Are you spying on me? That is weird Morgan, even for you.”

“It’s not spying if I’m getting answers.”

“Not sure that’s how that works, Buddy. Look, please, for my sanity, stay out of my love life.” With that, she maneuvered around him and headed to her office.

He yelled after her, “So you do have a love life?”

She shut her door behind her, collapsed in her chair and sighed, “I wish I did.”

 

On Saturday Mindy was hanging out at the bar before it opened. It was just her and Danny and he was getting ready for the night. She was helping him stock the bar and get it ready to open. He had said she didn’t have to help but she felt stupid just sitting there watching him do all the work. Apparently there was a lot that went into opening a bar for the night. News to her.

“Jeremy just keeps going on and on about her and I don’t know how to tell him that if she hasn’t called him back by now, she probably isn’t going to,” Mindy said, referring to Maggie.

“I’ve never seen him like this over someone. Pete, that I could see. He swears he falls in love with any girl who can drink a beer faster than he can. He was newly single when Tamara joined the staff. He kept challenging her to beer drinking contests. He didn’t know Jeremy and I had warned her beforehand,” Danny said with a laugh.

“Oh Peter. Why does that not shock me more?” Mindy said laughing along with him.

There was a pause in conversation as the two of them kept working. Danny started organizing things while Mindy went about setting up chairs.

“Listen Mindy, I have to thank you,” Danny said, breaking the silence.

She looked over at him a bit confused. “What for?”

“You could be doing anything else on your Saturday afternoon and yet you’re here with me setting up my bar for the night.”

“That is true. But what would I be doing instead? Watching lame tv movies or reality shows from the past week. I mean yeah that sounds great, but this is also great. It’s great getting to spend time with someone who is quickly becoming one of my closest friends. Why would I want to spend my day doing anything else when I could spend it with you?”

Mindy looked up at him and he looked kind of surprised. Had she overstepped? No, because they were friends. That wasn’t weird for a friend to say to another friend. He just needed to wipe that shocked look off his face.

“You know what, I’m a little thirsty. There’s water in the back, yeah?” Mindy asked heading toward the back room.

Danny slowly nodded his head, watching her walk back there.

Mindy wound around to the large refrigerator and opened the door. “What the hell? All you have back here is tonic water. Where’s the good stuff? You know the stuff that doesn’t bubble.” She didn’t hear a response coming and so she grabbed a bottle of tonic water and closed the door.

“Hey.” She heard Danny somewhere near the door as she started examining the bottle in her hand.

“Seriously, where is the normal water? I just –“ She turned around and he was right behind her. He grabbed the bottle of water out of her hands and threw it on the counter next to the fridge.

The next thing she knew, his hands were cupping her face and his lips were crashing against hers. It took her no time to respond. She slid her hands up his muscular arms and rested them at the nape of his neck.  The two were eagerly kissing the hell out of each other. His hands wound into her hair and then her back was up against the fridge. His body was flush with hers as she parted her lips and his tongue started roaming her mouth. He felt more than heard the moan escaping from her. He pulled away and she was confused until he started kissing his way down her neck. She wove her hands into his hair as he kissed his way up to her ear. She gasped as he took her earlobe in his mouth. She pulled his head away and brought his mouth back to hers. After what felt like forever and yet no time at all, he pulled away to come up for air. They stood there panting, arms tightly woven around the other. She didn’t know when but at some point his hand had landed squarely on her ass.

“Do you…want to get out of here?” Danny panted to her.

“Yeah, but what about tonight? Didn’t you have to open?” Mindy said, pulling back enough to look at him.

“Honestly, right now, I could care less. I’ll call one of the guys.”

“Well then…fuck yes, let’s get out of here.”

He grabbed her hand and dragged her to the exit. He stopped just short of the door and she collided into him. He just started kissing her again. When they broke apart, she grabbed her things, looked up at him and said, “My place is pretty close.” He looked her deep in the eyes, nodded, and then pulled her back in for another kiss.


	9. Chapter Nine

Mindy walked into work on Monday feeling pretty damn happy. She felt a spring in her step that she was not used to. She practically was prancing into the office sporting a giant smile and carrying a box of donuts. Mindy placed the box down gently on the main desk and started shuffling through messages while humming a tune. Morgan walked out of phlebotomy, glanced at her, and immediately said, “You had sex.”

Mindy feigned a gasp and kept smiling. Morgan walked closer to her and took her messages away from her. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he looked deep into her eyes, making her a little uncomfortable.

“Who was it? Do I need to hurt this person or are we good with him. Or her? I make no judgments. Love is love.”

“Okay, Morgan. That’s sweet and all, but for the hundredth time, please be less interested in my love life,” Mindy said, peeling his hands off her shoulders. She turned around and strode into her office knowing Morgan would surely follow her. She could hear him as she put her stuff down on her desk and sat down in her chair.

“Maggie! Hey Maggie! Dr. L had sex and she won’t tell me about it! What should we do?”

Mindy sighed loudly and put her head down on her desk. Now that Maggie was involved, she would surely have to rehash the events of her weekend. Yes, she had had fantastic, mind blowing sex with her boyfriend. Boyfriend? Were they there? After two days cooped up in her apartment, she really assumed they were. Her inner analysis was stopped as Maggie stomped into her office with Morgan closely on her tail.

“You had sex and you didn’t tell me? I had to find out from Morgan! I thought we were friends Lahiri! How dare you not share the very personal and secret details of your love life to me?” Maggie said, getting closer to Mindy the longer she talked.

“Okay it was just the last couple of days and it was no big deal,” Mindy said, lying about the last part because, Holy Crap, it was a big deal.

“Who was it? Please tell me it wasn’t Casey.”

“It wasn’t Casey.”

“Was it that gross sports lawyer you used to date? The one who was unnaturally blond for a man? I never liked him.”

“No. It wasn’t Josh.”

Morgan started to chime in, “Was it that ER doctor from the hospital? I thought you two had a weird chemistry that time you picked me up after my new dog attacked me.”

“Eww, no. It was not Dr. Weiler. He was disgusting. You thought we had chemistry? Morgan your senses are really off.”

Mindy continued to be evasive. She didn’t know why but she didn’t really want Maggie and Morgan horning in on the weekend of bliss she had. Eventually though, she broke. She couldn’t take their ever growing list of men they thought she would sleep with despite their disapproval.

“Fine! Stop. I’ll tell you.” With that, they both sat down in the chairs in front of her desk. They leaned forward, looking like little dogs about to get a treat. Mentally, she noted how Morgan would be more than pleased with that simile.

“It was my friend Danny. Though I don’t know if that is how I would classify him anymore…”

“Danny? Wait! That guy from the bar?” Maggie said, seemingly trying to connect the dots.

“Yes. Though he is not just that guy from the bar. I really really like him. So much that I just sounded like a 16 year old girl about an older boy she’s trying to convince her mom to let her date. He’s really kind and smokin’ hot. I mean you saw him Maggie. And he is a genuinely nice person and we get along really well and –“

“Do you even know this guy? I mean how much time have you even spent together?” Maggie interrogated.

“Okay, you sound pretty judgmental for a woman who made out with another bartender minutes after meeting him.”

“Whoa there. Out of line. I never slept with him. I never even responded to his calls,” Maggie said defensively.

“Yeah well maybe you should have. I’ve gotten to know Jeremy and he’s a nice guy. Look, I’ve actually been spending a lot of time with him recently and we’ve really gotten to know each other well and I was feeling happy when I walked in here this morning and I didn’t realize I would be subject to the Inquisition before I even saw a patient. I’m happy. Isn’t that all that matters?”

Maggie looked at her thoughtfully as Morgan got up and moved behind her desk. He pulled Mindy out of her chair and into a great big bear hug. “I’m happy for you. Did I one day hope that it would be us risking making mixed race babies? I’ll admit, yes. But good for you Dr. L. I’m proud of you.”

“You’re proud of me for having sex. Morgan that’s…weird.”

“I just know it’s been so long for you.”

“Okay wow, that’s rude. It hadn’t been that long. And stop monitoring my sexual activity. It’s borderline stalker.”

“What about your period? Do you still want me to track your period for you?”

“You track her period for her? That’s weird, Morgan!” Maggie chimed in.

“Yeah Morgan that is a little weird,” Mindy agreed, slowly. When Maggie looked away, she nodded and mouthed “keep doing that” to Morgan. He winked and nodded back with a big grin on his face as he left her office.

After a pause, Maggie finally said, “I’m sorry I wasn’t more supportive of you. I just don’t want you to slum it to get over Casey.”

“My God, Maggie! There’s no Casey to get over! I broke up with him. I was glad to get out of that relationship. I know you think I’ve spent the last few months secretly dying inside but I haven’t been. I saw Casey a while ago and I didn’t feel anything. I mean I felt awkward but I didn’t miss him. I wasn’t wistful when he left. I didn’t go home and cry. I am not on the rebound. And I’m certainly not slumming it. Sure he’s not a doctor but whatever. You think I want to date a doctor? Someone with as crazy a schedule as me? No, thank you. I’d really like you to get on board with this because I love Danny.”

Wait. Did she just say love?

“Did you just say love?” Maggie asked, looking at her with wide eyes.

“Yeah…I, I did. Huh. But you know what, I think I do.”

“Seriously?”

“Maggie, I, uh, actually have work to do and I also need to spiral out about this realization that I just had while I was speaking to you, so if you don’t mind I’m gonna boot you from my office. Bye, now,” Mindy said, physically moving Maggie from her office.

She was in love with Danny Castellano. When had that happened?

Well honestly, kind of from the first night she met him. It had been awhile since that first night in the bar but there had been something there. He had never been just a random bartender. She should have known it would happen this fast just by how often he was on her mind. Even when she was just letting her mind wander, it would always end up back with him. And once she actually started spending real moments with him, she realized how different and yet similar they were. She realized how great a person he was. And she could tell that he was the type of person that she wanted to spend her time with. She didn’t need to waste anymore of her time with losers who flaked out on her or clearly didn’t care about her just for fear of ending up alone. She needed to spend her time with the Dannys of the world (or really just Danny). She needed to be with a man who is just as passionate about his own life as she is about hers. She needs to be with someone who can send her a text and make her entire being feel alive. And damn it, Danny was that for her. She had to have known that the minute they would actually be together she would start feeling this way. Normally, she felt scared by intense feelings like this, but in this instance they just felt right.

“Dr. Lahiri, your first patient is here!” she heard from the lobby. She grabbed her files and her lab coat and got to work, hoping that maybe there would be a minute or two today where she wouldn’t be dwelling on this revelation she had just had.

Mindy kept her epiphany to herself for a few weeks as she settled into a comfortable and yet amazing relationship with Danny. Even though she spent a lot of their relationship as friends wanting more, she realized how strong their relationship was so quickly because they had been friends first. They knew pretty much everything they felt they needed to know about each other and they had only been going out for just under a month. She spent most nights with him, even if she had to hang out at the bar during his shift. It was familiar and it was still nice to just be together. Plus, anytime some female patron gave Danny a once or twice over, she could go behind the bar and stake her claim. Which often she did just for fun.

That night Mindy waltzed into the building, went straight behind the bar, threw her arms around Danny and started kissing him without so much as a hello first. She had been delivering baby after baby and was pleased to get away from the hospital for the night.

Danny pulled away with a smile on his face saying, “Well, hello there.”

She giggled at his dazed expression. “Hi. It’s just been so long.”

“I saw you last night when I brought you food at the hospital,” Danny reminded her.

“Oh I’m sorry, do you _not_ want me to greet you like that? Was there a problem with me missing you?”

“No of course not. Please forgive me. I missed you terribly in the last sixteen hours,” Danny said sarcastically as he pulled her back in for another kiss. She gently hit him on the arm and then leaned back in herself. They were standing there kissing until Peter walked in and whistled at them. They broke apart and Danny gave Peter a dirty look.

“Well if it isn’t Dr. Mindy Lahiri. One of our richest patrons who drinks for free. She’s here to help make the mess but conveniently skips on clean up. How lovely it is to see you, Mindy,” Peter said, hopefully teasing her.

“I was told that the only way to get free drinks when you’re my age was to date the owner of the bar. I mean, I hate to say, “Mission Accomplished,” buuutt…” she laughed at her own joke. Danny did not look as amused. “My God, Danny it was a joke. I am obviously not dating you for free drinks, even if it is a nice perk you offer me. I can obviously afford to pay for my drinks.”

“Can you? Because you never do. Wouldn’t hurt sometimes, you know. If you want your boyfriend’s business to stay afloat as well as your newfound friends to keep their jobs,” Peter said, really enunciating boyfriend and friends.

“Oh calm down, Peter,” Jeremy said, strolling in. “Mindy drinks less than you do per night and you don’t pay either. Besides, she’s brought in so many doctors in the last few weeks that we’re starting to get a reputation of being an upscale joint. We could do worse. Though, your friend Maggie never comes in…”

“Seriously, Jeremy, you’re better off. I know plenty of other women if you want me to set you up sometime.”

“Oh, no, don’t do that,” Danny said. “We’ve all tried in the past. He is literally the pickiest dater in the world.”

“Well, I make no apologies for having high standards. We used to think you had pretty low standards, Danny, until you started dating a doctor,” Jeremy retorted.

“Really? Show your work! I’d like to hear some of Danny’s low standards. I mean I know the ex-wife, but who else?” Mindy asked eagerly. She always loved feeling superior.

“Nope, let’s not do this,” Danny said, trying to stop it.

“Well there was this one chick, Eyepatch, that Danny met after he had dropped me off at the ER. She seemed really cool at first but then got really uptight about Danny’s age,” Peter supplied. “He tried so hard to prove he was cool to get her back but there was just no having it. It was kind of sad.”

“Okay, I think that’s enough,” Danny said. Mindy just laughed as she patted his arm soothingly.

“No it’s not, go on!” Mindy urged. Danny gave her a pleading look and she squeezed his arm, saying, “Sorry, babe. I just like to know what I’m beating.”

“You’re beating them all. Isn’t that enough?” Danny asked.

“If it helps, Mindy, you’re the first girl since college that we’ve approved him dating,” Jeremy said, smiling.

Mindy felt really touched. She really had wanted his friends’ approval. It was the kind of thing that had proved elusive in her past relationships. She smiled a big smile, with slight tears in his eyes. “Thanks, Jeremy. That’s really sweet.”

“Oh God, she’s crying. Danny, pour her a drink or she’s gonna drive away the customers with her weepiness,” Peter said, shooting Mindy a wink at the end.

“No, don’t. There’s still a chance I have to deliver a baby. I can’t drink.”

And it was a good thing she had said so because not a full hour later, her pager went off, calling her back to the hospital.

“Damn it. I was really hoping I was wrong. Ugh,” Mindy said as she finished off her soda and grabbed her purse.

“Well if it goes quickly, come back and I’ll make you all the drinks you can stomach,” Danny said.

“Yeah that’s not a good idea, unless you want to clean up my vomit, Castellano,” she said laughing.

“Mmm. Yeah that doesn’t sound like what I would plan to do with you for the evening,” Danny replied with a wink.

“Did you just wink at me?” She laughed out the question. He leaned across the bar and she met him for a quick kiss.

“Call me when you’re leaving the hospital, okay?” She nodded in reply  and was heading to the door. He was watching her walk away, saying “I’ll see you later. Love you!”

She froze in her steps. She slowly turned around to look back at him. He had a look of mild confusion on his face.

“What did you say?” She asked gently.

“Yeah! What _did_ you say?” Peter asked from right behind Danny, with a look of horror on his face.

Danny started stuttering like he didn’t know if he should play it off or actually admit what he said.

Mindy found her footing and walked back around the bar. She pulled Danny in for a kiss. Pulling away she looked at him and said, “Don’t worry, Danny. I love you, too.” He smiled from ear to ear and she mirrored it. He pulled her in for a longer kiss while Peter stalked away to find Jeremy and tell him what he would probably call the disgusting news. Mindy finally pulled away, reminding him that she had to go. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said, “Okay. Well, call me when you’re done and I’ll be there.” She nodded and kissed him one last time before she actually left the bar. Mindy headed in the direction of the hospital, noting that if she was lucky enough, maybe she could keep this man forever.


End file.
